In-court Opportunities for Newer Attorneys
Judge Lee encourages attorneys and their clients to provide less experienced attorneys (i.e., attorneys with 6 or fewer years of legal experience) with substantive speaking opportunities during court proceedings, including motion and status hearings, settlement conferences, claim-construction hearings, pretrial conferences, evidentiary hearings, sentencings, and trials. To that end, Judge Lee will allow more than one attorney to address the Court on behalf of a party during any proceeding, to the extent that the party wishes to divide up the issues so that less experienced attorneys can present argument. During such presentations, Judge Lee will allow lead attorneys to confer with the newer attorneys at any time to make any suggestions, and lead counsel also may interject to provide additional argument or conduct additional witness examination as reasonably necessary. Furthermore, while Judge Lee typically does not hear oral argument for motions to dismiss and motions for summary judgment, if both parties agree to allow the arguments to be made by less experienced attorneys, they should alert the courtroom deputy, and Judge Lee will grant such a request.
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